Vi isn't nasty enough, so user looses lines
Daniel R. Levy
levy at ttrdc.UUCP
Sat Aug 24 15:39:54 AEST 1985
In article <2073 at ukma.UUCP>, david at ukma.UUCP (David Herron, NPR Lover) writes:
>Index: Everybody's favorite text editor.
>
>Problem: Vi allows users to :wq without comment when they've
> deleted part of the file and written it to something else.
> This can result in lost files and confused novices.
>
>Repeat-by: Edit a file. Delete part of the file. (dG) Write
> the result to another file (:w junk). Exit by either
> typing :wq or ZZ. Notice that the original is shorter.
> Find backup tape.
>
>Fix: Add more nastiness to vi.
>
What system (USG or Berkeley)? What version vi? I just tried this on a
3B20 running Sys5r2 and after deleting a few lines from a copy of my mbox
I did a :w junk, then a ZZ. A diff between the copy and my mbox showed they
were the same. Trying this with :w junk, then :wq did indeed overwrite the
original. Looks like you get just what you ask for when you :wq but ZZ
seems to protect your hide OK. The buffer modified condition is cleared
whenever you write the whole thing to a file--could be /dev/null for all vi
cares. ZZ honors this condition (and won't overwrite the original), :wq does
NOT!! (Someone else with a different version may feel free to contradict me.)
--
------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views contained herein are
| dan levy | yvel nad | my own and are not at all those of my em-
| an engihacker @ | ployer, my pets, my plants, my boss, or the
| at&t computer systems division | s.a. of any computer upon which I may hack.
| skokie, illinois |
-------------------------------- Path: ..!ihnp4!ttrdc!levy
or: ..!ihnp4!iheds!ttbcad!levy
More information about the Net.bugs
mailing list